Satan is Resting Easy:
The Power of Christ "Propels" Themby Jason Miller
www.dissidentvoice.org
March 9, 2006

Remember,
Big Brother is watching, listening and reading. In light of the illegal
surveillance they are conducting at the behest of their incompetent,
rogue, and murderous Commander-in-Chief, I am dedicating this essay to the
NSA.

To George Bush, Dick
Cheney, Daniel Pipes, and their soulless war-mongering compadres, I
proudly admit that I support the Palestinians (and their democratically
elected Hamas leaders) in their struggle against their brutal Israeli
oppressors. In fact, consider me a member of the so-called Fifth Column
identified by Pipes. I abhor virtually all of the foreign and domestic
policies the Machiavellian disciples of Strauss have implemented through
wielding their ill-gotten power and influence. However, the United States
is as much my country as it is theirs. I fully intend to remain here and
work persistently against them by continuing to tenaciously pursue human
rights and social justice for humanity, not simply for a select few in the
United States and Israel.

Quoting the eloquent
and infamous words of the incredibly articulate Mr. Cheney, I say, "Fuck
you!" to their malignant cabal. While this nefarious faction and its
loyalists may consider me a traitor, I refuse to pledge allegiance to a
pack of criminals who have hijacked the government of the people of the
United States. If it is treason to dissent against corrupt thieves and
murderers who have shredded our sacred Constitution, I stand guilty as
charged.

There are lies
and there are damned lies…

One of the boldest
and most insidious lies propagated by the leadership of the Zionists, the
Dominionists, the Religious Right, and by their whores in Washington is
that the Middle East is populated primarily by Islamic extremists with an
insatiable thirst for the blood of "innocent American Christians" and who
are hell bent on eliminating "those poor chronic victims" illegally
occupying the land of the Palestinians and committing genocide against
them.

Somehow, in a twist
of logic only Lewis Carroll could fully comprehend, many people in the
United States have been indoctrinated to believe that our nation, which
possesses the largest stockpile of weapons of mass destruction in the
history of mankind, is the only nation to have used those weapons on a
massive scale (just ask the Japanese), and bears direct and indirect
responsibility for the murder of tens of millions of innocent civilians
over the last century, is a benevolent super-power illuminating a beacon
of hope for humanity. I readily recognize that other nations and
governments have committed their share of atrocities, but I do not see
them waving the Red, White and Blue, piously trumpeting platitudes about
spreading freedom and democracy, and simultaneously waging pre-emptive
strikes against nations which they merely “perceive to be a potential
threat.” Holier than thou, dost thou think? The golden chalice of the
United States runneth over with putrid sanctimony.

The terror of
gazing at one’s own reflection…

For over a year now,
I have written numerous essays which have been widely published on the
Internet. My primary goal has been to inspire Americans to apply the same
humanitarian standards to our nation that we use to stringently and
hypocritically measure other nations. I have also attempted to convince
more Americans to engage in introspection and self-examination. When I
began plumbing those depths about 13 years ago, I did not like what I saw.
I have steadily acted to reshape my values, outlook, and decisions to
align with ideals such as human rights, social justice, peace, equality,
thrift, dignity, honesty, respect, and responsibility. While I have not
achieved the high moral plain of a Gandhi by any means, I have become more
a part of the solution than the problem.

Based on the
hateful, denigrating, and sometimes threatening emails I receive from
about a third of the readers responding to my essays, I conclude that my
message threatens the sense of security many Americans derive from
supporting the status quo. I have also determined that I am swimming
upstream against an addictive torrent of vitriolic propaganda spewed by
Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage, Jonah Goldberg, and a host of
others. Sorry to disappoint those of you who have told me to leave the
country, kill myself, or renounce being a “traitor and a "self-hating
American" (yes, they often parrot the rhetoric of the likes of Daniel
Pipes), but I have no intention of moving, killing myself, or abandoning
my deeply rooted antipathy for the enemies of humanity (and the Earth) who
have stolen the United States from We the People.

Jesus as a
commodity… and a weapon

One of the American
elite’s (amongst whom I include their complicit disseminators of
propaganda in the mainstream media) most repulsive means of grabbing and
maintaining power has been its shameless use of spiritual manipulation, a
heinous form of psychological abuse. Preying on fear, insecurity, and
ignorance, they have perverted true Christianity to the extent that a
third of those voting for George Bush, a man as morally repugnant as
Dorian Gray, were a part of the radical Religious Right.

With the help of
mendacious, avaricious, and highly sophisticated hucksters like James
Dobson, Jerry Falwell, and Ted Haggard, the American plutocracy has
packaged and commercialized spirituality like an Extra Value Meal at
McDonald’s. You want fast food salvation done the American way? Look for
the Golden Crosses, zip into the drive-through, drop some donation money,
and accept Christ as your savior! Forget spiritual pain or sacrifice.
Jesus died to grant you a path to easy street. So be on your merry way
with your Big Mac of two all beef patties and guaranteed eternity in
heaven. Chase it down with an enchanting Golgotha collector’s cup filled
with smug certainty that you are now morally superior to the rest of
humanity. Savor a side of Schadenfreude fries delightfully spiced with
visions of the abject torment the “heathens” will face when Jesus the
Avenger returns to Earth to smite the sinners.

Acknowledging that
not all those comprising the Religious Right are created equal, and that
there is a great deal of diversity amongst their beliefs and practices,
there is enough commonality to conclude that the malefactors at the helm
of the US have leveraged the hateful, narrow-minded beliefs of enough of
these fanatics to garner sufficient support to commit egregious acts of
torture, passive mass murder (New Orleans ring a bell?), massive slaughter
under the guise of military intervention, and theft of public funds.

Men like Dobson
shepherd their flocks to vote for bellicose champions of the wealthy
because these “moral stalwarts” have pledged their undying support to a
"culture of life". Despite their "devotion" to making abortion illegal,
ending the use of human embryos (even those which would otherwise be
discarded) for stem cell research, and denying equal rights to 5-10% of
our population (gays and lesbians), the power brokers have perpetually
been incapable of making good on their promises. While championing these
“family values”, they have mesmerized their Religious Right followers into
supporting the false dichotomy of Christianity vs. Islam, an imperialistic
and murderous agenda in Iraq and throughout the Middle East, and domestic
policies which significantly erode the economic well-being of their
radical Christian base (and the rest of us amongst the working class).
Thomas Frank explored this mind-blowing phenomenon in great detail in his
book, What's the Matter with Kansas.

Realize that I am
not disparaging the Christian religion in general. Personally, I am a
spiritual person with a belief in a Higher Power, but I am not Christian.
I recognize that there are many rational, compassionate, and
decent human beings who practice Christianity.
If one reads many of my essays, one will discover that I often find myself
defending Islam and its followers in my writing. I do this because they
have been the victims of Western imperialism for years. I make no claim
that either the Muslims or Christians are better. I am simply deeply
concerned about the Western genocide and acts of imperialism committed
against Islamic peoples since oil became a valued commodity. In spite of
the despicable misdeeds committed in our names, we wonder why so many in
the Middle East harbor such hostility against the United States and its
residents. We act befuddled, violated, and validated in our belief that we
are morally superior when obscenely oppressed and exploited people resort
to “terrorism” in a desperate attempt to defend themselves from the
mightiest military and economy in the history of the world.

I abhor the violence
committed by both sides, but we are not the “good guys.” The prevaricators
leading our nation and writing our history have portrayed Americans as
wearing the white hats for far too long. Transgressions and atrocities
have been committed by many nations and people throughout history,
including the United States and its leaders. Consider the most recent
example in Iraq. Our occupying force has killed over 100,000 innocent
Iraqi civilians. This is state terrorism at its worst and it needs to end.
With our resources, the United States could become a humanitarian force.
Sadly, the Neocons have chosen guns over butter (using our tax dollars and
a mountain of borrowed money) to a shameless degree, enraging many of us
who still have a social conscience.

Do as we say, not
as we do….

Just as some Islamic
fundamentalists wield religion as a weapon, the morally bankrupt
aristocracy of the United States utilizes religion as a tool of war.
Employing the power of spiritual manipulation to muster the support of
their minions of extremist Christians, the authors of the
Project for the New American Centurymobilized
enough popular support to invade a nation which had not harmed the United
States, to eradicate the poor in New Orleans through passive mass murder
and a Diaspora, to sell our children's future by committing to $8 trillion
worth of debt to power their war machine, to cut taxes on the rich, and to
increase war spending while cutting spending on programs which benefit
humanity.

I hate to burst the
bubble of those still deluded enough to accept the false premise (advanced
by the Bush Regime) that we are a Christian nation embroiled in a modern
day crusade against the followers of an Islamic religion which teaches
them to hate democracy and brutally violate human rights. Here is a dose
of reality. Over the last century, this "good Christian nation" and our
friends in Israel have slaughtered, murdered, and tortured millions of
Islamic people, both directly and indirectly (through proxy dictators). In
contrast, Islamic murders of Americans, Christians and Jews are a relative
drop in the bucket. Rather than "spreading freedom and democracy", Bush
has the United States spreading imperialism, torture, and murder of
innocent civilians. Saddam Hussein’s removal from power was a mere
sideshow. If the United States was so concerned with its moral obligation
to remove a ruthless dictator from power, there were many others they
could have targeted. It was oil, power, and increased security for our
terrorist proxy occupying Palestine that motivated the United States to
invade Iraq.

Speaking of concern for human rights and humanitarian intervention, when
is the United States going to stop funding Israel and launch an invasion
against them to stop the Palestinian genocide? When groups like Hamas have
the audacity to resist oppression and murder, Americans and Israelis label
them as "terrorists." Now that Hamas is the democratically elected ruling
party of the PA, the United States has elected to cut its aid to the
Palestinians, a people who are already wallowing in the misery of
Israeli-inflicted poverty and racial extermination. (As a side note, the
Israelis are able to inflict genocide on the Palestinians because of the
obscene amounts of financial and military aid they receive from the United
States). To add insult to injury, Israel has determined that they can once
again disregard international law by withholding the Palestinian tax
revenues they collect (the Palestinians’ chief source of income). As is
typical, the United States and its proxy are free to violate treaties,
international laws, UN mandates, and humanitarian standards with impunity
while applying the same laws to the rest of the world to the nth degree.

How about calling us
a pluralistic nation with freedom of religion?

The notion that the
United States is a Christian nation is false on numerous levels. Certainly
we are heavily influenced Christianity, but to say we are a Christian
nation flies in the face of the raison d’être of America.

Consider the
following:

1. According to the
1990 US Census, 91.6% of Americans were Christians. By 2000, the
percentage had decreased to 85%. We 42 million “heathens” represent a
pretty significant portion of the population.

2. Many of the
Western Europeans who settled the original thirteen colonies fled their
nations of origin to evade religious persecution and state-imposed
religions.

3. Thomas Jefferson
and Benjamin Franklin, two of our most prominent Founding Fathers, were
Deists. Washington and Jefferson were not particularly religious but
tended more toward Deism than Christianity.

4. Thomas Paine,
whose writings were a powerful catalyst for the American Revolution,
vehemently attacked Christianity in one of his polemical works and refused
to embrace Christianity, even on his death-bed.

5. God is not
mentioned in our Constitution. The Declaration of Independence simply
mentions "Nature's God" and a "Creator," neither of which specifically
imply a Christian god.

6. Per the Treaty of
Tripoli, endorsed by President John Adams and ratified unanimously by the
US Senate in 1797: "As the Government of the United States is not in any
sense founded on the Christian religion..."

7. If Christians lay
claim to the United States as their nation, that means they bear the sole
responsibility for the evils of slavery, the virtual annihilation of the
Native Americans, and the many acts of state terror perpetrated by the US
military and CIA over the years.

8. In 1864, the
equivalent of today's Religious Right cowed Congress into passing
legislation mandating that the US begin stamping "In God We Trust" on
several of our coins. Besides caving to the powerful influence of
Christian fundamentalists, our federal government also recognized the
psychological boost the power of Christian symbolism would give them after
the blow to their authority rendered by the Civil War.

9. McCarthy-inspired
anti-Communist hysteria motivated Eisenhower to sign Public Law 140 in
1956. Going forward, all US coins and paper money bore the propagandistic
slogan "In God We Trust" to reassure Americans that we were better than
the godless Communists. The same year, the words "under God" were added to
the Pledge of Allegiance. It took 180 years for this Christian nation to
fully embrace its identity. Or perhaps it simply took our plutocratic
rulers that long to recognize the power of spiritual coercion….

As an aside, the
original motto of the United States was E Pluribus Unum (Latin for “Out of
many, one”), which obviously encourages more unity and cohesion than an
exclusionary national motto dedicated to a god worshipped by one segment
of the population.

Sleeping like
babies….

Aside from the power
of radical Christianity to subjugate the masses, this disturbing
perversion of healthy spirituality does come with an added “benefit.” It
enables its devotees to support politicians who rob from the poor to give
to the rich, who wage murderous and imperialist wars to enrich the
military industrial complex, and who allow their corporate collaborators
to blatantly abuse employees, consumers, and the environment. Thanks to
the salve provided to their consciences by "knowing" they live in a
Christian, morally superior nation (not to mention the security provided
by their "guaranteed blissful after-life"), the mélange of groups and
people comprising the extreme Religious Right can swear their allegiance
to a group of monstrous human beings without feeling a twinge of guilt.

As many of my
antagonists have pointed out, I am not without limitations (and I do not
claim to be). Remaining in the United States to wage a non-violent
struggle for human rights and social justice virtually assures that I will
be a party to enabling the US war machine and corporatocracy in some way.
Besides the fact that I pay federal taxes (fairly unavoidable for a
working class family person), buy some products from grossly corrupt
corporations (albeit as few as possible), and have my share of personal
spiritual struggles, my other glaring sin is the hostility I harbor toward
the enemies of humanity sitting atop the throne of power in our nation.
However, even Jesus himself directed outrage at the moneychangers and
legalistic religious leaders of his day. If someone of his moral capacity
directed anger at the corrupt establishment, who am I to presume I could
overcome my rancor against the malevolent forces comprising the United
States ruling elite? If their numerous crimes against humanity were not
fanning the flames of my anger, I would no longer be breathing. My
challenges are to prevent my ire from evolving into festering hatred or
desire for revenge and to strive to maintain constructive anger (which
motivates me to seek justice and positive change). That is a challenge to
which I can rise, despite my human shortcomings.

Please excuse my use
of profanity above, but it felt so good to echo Cheney's choice sentiments
back to him and his unwholesome cohorts. Meanwhile, send Satan a postcard
on his vacation. Our imperialistic rulers do not need him to perpetrate
their acts of profound moral depravity. They glide on the momentum
generated by fanatical followers who believe they have the market cornered
on morality and that Jesus will soon return to Earth as the ultimate WMD.

Jason Miller
is a 39-year-old sociopolitical essayist with a degree in liberal arts and
an extensive self-education. When he is not spending time with his wife
and three sons, doing research, or writing, he works as a loan counselor.
He is a member of Amnesty International and an avid supporter of Oxfam
International and Human Rights Watch. He welcomes responses at:
willpowerful@hotmail.com
or comments on his blog,
Thomas Paine’s Corner.